Devil May Cry 4 Review: A Well Polished Hack-n-Slash Revisit

Capcom re-introduces their popular hack-n-slash series with Devil May Cry 4 Special Edition, adding much more bang for your bucks with enhanced 1080p visuals and a silky-smooth 60fps, increasing the series show-stopping combative flair.

Experienced veterans of DMC4 will be right at home with this remaster as the effortless control schemes for maximum output of over-the-top action makes for a glorious return. This time around Capcom has enhanced the eye-candy with a more polished framerate, giving the game a new variation of gameplay, raising the replay meter with Vergil, Lady, Trish and the amazing Dante added to the mix as playable characters.

Though this special edition of Devil May Cy 4 allows for varied character play, the star of the show remains to be Nero, the younger strong willed demon slayer whom while he may not possess the same bravado as Dante, does become appreciated with his increasing ability upgrades. As the story goes, Nero is on a mission to stop Dante after Dante assassinated the leader of The Order of the Sword.

As you may remember, telling the abstract yet simple narrative through dramatized character expression, each gameplay set-piece is once again greeted with cinematic cutscenes which give way to environmental hints, oftentimes with enemies awaiting your arrival. Some with the classic spawning approach as though dropped in through a portal of Asgard. However, depending on the difficulty setting you will have to earn those high grade marks by seamlessly stringing together vicious combos, utilizing each locale as your killing arena.

Destruction of the environment gives way to red, green and yellow orbs, each offering their unique attribute. The acquisition of these orbs allows for player to utilize them as currency assisting with increasing your chosen characters skills list and important items such as the Vital Stars and the more than useful Holy Water. Secret missions are also presented throughout the journey as ‘Challenges’ in the form of unique light statues. These challenges can be described as combat tests which benefits the player by fine-tuning your combat dexterity, so if you’re looking to master those newly acquired skills the challenges will certainly aid in that endeavor. Once a challenge is accepted and completed players are offered more orbs, often a blue orb fragment is presented which when fully pieced together makes for a good time.

Though Devil May Cry 4 may have amazed us in 2008, by today’s standards the large beautifully depicted level designs can sometime comes across as empty shells of open combat arenas sometimes lacking dynamic significance. However, it is worth noting that the longer you traverse down the DMC4: SE rabbit hole the fun factor becomes increasingly prominent.

Clearing areas of any and every enemy type presented is the name of the game, in between taking in the upgraded sights and cool soundtrack on your way to the games mildly epic conclusion. Often player will need to dispatch all the enemies in an area in order to proceed, as the way ahead becomes blocked off by an impenetrable barrier until the area is cleared of all enemies.

While the games mission layouts run the campaign course relatively the same from sequence to sequence, there are some glaring differences, yet not as convincing as playing with the new set of characters. After completing the campaign with Nero, playing as the seemingly arrogant, sure of himself Vergil, was a welcome change of pace. Vergil’s play-style is more stylish and flashy than Nero while the controls scheme are closely related. Impressively the combat style of the distinct characters offered a unique spin, nicely contrasting each character and their personalities.

Vergil has varied weapon types which are interchangeable in the heat of the action with intense results and the same goes for Lady who was probably the most fun to play, with her bolstering weaponry. Lady brings a cross-weapon gameplay style to the mix utilizing a shotgun, dual-action pistols ala Lara Croft and a devastating rocket launcher which doubles as a hard hitting melee weapon, all of which offer unlimited ammo.

Getting used to the game somewhat fixed camera presented some slight disadvantages if fighting too close to a wall or simply wanting to take a peak at some of the games beautiful level designs. While the right toggle offered horizontal surveying of the layout, sometimes depending on the area, there isn’t much range when trying to take in the games splendid visuals vertically.

For the asking price of $29.99, Devil May Cry 4 Special Edition offers a wealth of gameplay excitement with a healthy level of replayability for the completionist who likes a challenge, with the option of mixing it up with a variety of characters and play styles.

The original DMC4 was release over seven years ago and though some of its novelty can’t be avoided, ultimately Capcom delivers a well polished, fun and entertaining remaster with Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition.

About Us

Game Insider is a digitally dedicated video game publication developed by passionate enthusiasts that are driven to represent our readers with accurate and engaging gaming news, reviews, videos, and updates. As one of the fastest growing digital video game publications we are driven by innovative ways to offer an attractive interactive gaming experience. We are also passionate about education, family, and paying it forward. Contact us, we would love to hear from you!